Could it be real REBOOT
by Aleri
Summary: A story of a girl who somehow get into the Naruto universe and starts to struggle not only to detach herself from the past she'd left far behind but also to stay alive. Follow her story and discover that reality is hardly ever as poetic as our dreams.
1. The family drama

**So, I present to you, the rewrite of Could it be real. I hope you like it. Just a little warning, the plot won't be identical with that of the original story but I plan to keep at least the main event. Also in the plot of the first chapter has been expanded a lot compared to the original story, so we'll be seeing more of Violet's family.**

* * *

Family members should be one of the most precious people in our lives. To some degree the relationship with them forms naturally, but that doesn't mean it should be taken for granted. Arguments happen, things that we ourselves don't believe are said alound, words that can cut deeper than a knife. Time passes, apologises are created, relationships are mended and live goes back to its previous state _ **. But what if it does not? What if time passes, apologises are created, but can't be delivered? What if the knife stays forever embedded in the wound?**_

* * *

The leaves have long since fallen, snowflakes danced in the wind and ice covered the puddles, simply the nature presented the image of winter, despite the calendar unequivocally claimed it was still autumn.  
A long time has passed since the Ford house was full, a long time has passed since the family was together. Both the children came home, even if for just a limited time, the older one, Adam was working on the other side of the globe and the younger, Violet was a student of a distant boarding school.

"Dinner's ready! "The table was fully set, the time was right, plus Violet could no longer resist the deliciously smelling meal. At the mention of meal, the Ford men almost immediately appeared in the dining room and already took the liberty to sit down and transport some of the meal to their plates. As usual the mother was the last to come, as she insisted on looking flawlessly even during a humble family dinner.

Although Violet was completely fine with the silence falling over the table, the others, especially her mother seemed to be desperate to try to talk about something meaningful. "So tell me Violet, what are you planning for the next weekend, should we be expecting you?" And so the silence got finally broken.

Violet raised her finger to let her mother know she heard the question and took time to chew and swallow the bite.

"No, not the next one, but I was thinking if I could introduce Gabriel to you the weekend after that, "Violet tried to make the statement sound casual, unrehearsed. She was so focused on delivering the statement in that manner that she completely missed the puzzled looks of everyone around,

"It only seems natural since we've been going out for three months now, "she added while taking another bite of her meal.

Realization dawned upon everyone and this time Violet didn't miss the tensed looks of her parents. Violet was glad her mother was holding jut a fork, not a glass, because the way she was crushing it with her hand would've earned her a few stitches.

"No young lady, you certainly cannot introduce 'Gabriel 'to us. I can't really believe you're dating, when you have more pressing matters to attend to." Even though in the back of her mind Violet somehow knew she should have expected this kind of reaction, she was still taken aback by the immediate ban.

Nervousness was quickly replaced by irritation and Violet had to hold back a lot not to overreact, "What pressing matters do you have in mind, mom?" She tried to sound as sweet as she could, but the sarcasm in her voice was almost touchable.

"What a silly question sweetheart, of course I'm talking about your study results," it seemed almost impossible, but now, for the first time in her life Violet noticed her mother's just used exactly the same tone, sweet but full of sarcasm, as she did, but it was the content of the statement that really riled her up,

" Hah, that's funny, because I clearly remember that when he," she made sure to sharply point at her brother," was around my age, he kept bringing here the blonde, Lauren… Lara…"

It suddenly seemed like the frost from outside got to the table as the temperature metaphorically dropped below zero." Laura, her name was Laura," there was some undeniably strange subtext in Adam's voice, but as she was now, she didn't care a slightest.

"Whatever! "she shot Adam a stare, "that's not the point. I mean, I'm not skipping school and my grades aren't that bad either. I know the stuff I'm supposed to know, I'm just failing to prove it during exams, that's all. "She looked at her parents with sparkles of hope in her eyes hopping that for once they could change their mind.

"No, Violet, he's not coming here and you won't ever mention him again, understood? "Partially unwillingly she nodded, after all what could be done, they were already dead set on keeping Gabriel away from this house. After the short conversation it seemed like everyone was suddenly comfortable with the not everyone, even though she wanted to let it go, she just couldn't turn blind eye to the unfairness her mother's just committed, right now, she was like a pressure cooker without a safety valve and the pressure was quickly building up.

"Tell me, why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to earn this? Why do you forgive Adam everything, he didn't come for Christmas, he didn't come for your birthday, hell he didn't even come to grandpa's funeral!" She shouted, efficiently startling everyone. She didn't wait for an answer, truth to be told she didn't want one, she just stood up and walked out as calmly as she could.

She slammed the door to her room behind her as a little rebellious childish gesture. She sat on the bed and just let her mind wander away from reality. She wondered why her room felt so cold, distant as if it was not her room. The room was like a remnant from the past, a single room frozen in time. It was a child's room with its colourful furniture, lilac walls covered by posters and shelfs filled with books about love that only a naïve young girl could read. Violet could still vividly remember leaving it on the day she went to the boarding school three years ago, nothing's changed there since then, she didn't see the point in investing her time and her parents' money to redecorate a room she used twice in a month.

* * *

Two gentle knocks distraught her thoughts. It was obvious who was knocking, even before he opened the door. After all, according to her parents' logic she was the one who needed to apologise for disrupting the dinner. It was always her brother who came. From time to time Violet's actually wondered what kind of relationship her and her brother had, they weren't really close, after all he was almost 10 years older, but she's always felt some sort of special connection, a connection that even being constantly compared to him couldn't break.

″Can I come in? ″ Adam's approach was really an odd one, first he entered the room and then her asked if he could come in.

Violet snorted, ″make yourself at home. ″

He seated himself next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Violet exhaled loudly, she was in no mood for upcoming pep talk.

″You really overreacted, there was no need to make a scene like that. Try to understand them, you just dumped on them that you have a boyfriend, you didn't give them time to process it and already wanted to bring him here. ″

Violet snorted again, of course he had to defend them. ″I get that, wrong approach, but that's not what angers me. They treat me differently than they'd treated you, I mean I remember you bringing Laura for dinner without even telling them and they were completely fine with that. ″

Adam rubbed his temples and when Violet looked at him he suddenly looked 20 years older, ″ you know that they love you, don't you? They idolize me so you had a good model and not repeated my mistakes. ″

Suddenly it seemed like she was talking to her mother, she didn't understand how she never noticed how similar Adam was to her. ″Oh really? You managed to do something wrong? What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you? Your PlayStation broke? Lauren or whatever her name is dumped you? ″

Her brother stood up so suddenly that Violet leapt back on her bed in surprise. ″See? ″ his demeanour's completely changed, he was angry now, she's never seen her brother like this and frankly, it scared her. ″ This, this is the real you. Hateful teenage girl who spits her venom on things she knows nothing about! What right do you have to speak about my mistakes, what right do you have to speak about Laura when you know nothing!? Really what do you know about life? You have everything you want, you have money, fancy clothes, nice home, almost no supervision. And you still have the image that you're neglected in your head. Honestly Violet, you need a shrink, you should've gotten one a long time ago, and if you won't get one now, someone's going to get hurt…again. ″ He wanted to continue his speech but Violet wasn't going to let him.

″You don't want to go there Adam, ″ she snarled dangerously.

He smiled sadly, almost as if he pitied her, ″ You're right, I'm not the one to poke old wounds, unlike you. I should go now. ″

″Yeah you should and so should I, ″ she whispered when he left. She had enough now, he went too far, who knew he was such a jerk. Violet hasn't even unpacked her suitcase properly and she was already packing it again, she was leaving, she didn't know where she was going to go, but anywhere was better than here, with them. She took only the necessary things and with a loud bang of the main door left into the evening chill.

* * *

Before he went to his father, he tried to do his best to calm himself down after the confrontation with his sister, no one hasn't managed to rile him up like that for a long time. He knocked on the door of his father's office and this time waited for a permission to enter.

″I guess it didn't go very well. ″ The father judged by his son's expression.

″She…″ Adam paused as he didn't have the exact words to describe his sister, ″She's changed…She seems distant. ″

″What made you so angry? ″ That was something his father wouldn't miss even if he'd tried to hide it.

Adam looked at his father with eyes full of mixed pain and anger, ″The way she talked about Laura, it seemed as if she mocked me, she laughed that she dumped me. ″

His father ran a hand through his hair and exhaled, although he always knew David was smart he could be really thick sometimes ″Have it occurred to you that maybe she said that because no one ever told her?

Adam's eyes widened, ″ You told her nothing? I though she knew at least something. ″

″Than I would suggest you go to her and tell her the whole story, I think she's old enough to understand. ″ It was obvious he was right and it was obvious that ever since the dinner Violet was suspecting they weren't telling her something.

″ I would if I could, but she's left the house, ″ Adam knew his father was going to be angry, he'd trusted him to talk to Violet and explain everything, not to drive her away.

″Than I suggest you go and find her,″ he said it casually, but Adam felt the threatening subtext, so he just nodded and went to get his coat.

* * *

Violet soon realised how badly had she underestimated the weather. She wished she had taken her jacket rather than the coat and the woollen gloves weren't really doing a good job at keeping her hands warm either. Even though she was fully aware of the fact that she's left the house with her thinking clouded by the anger, she wasn't planning on going back. Her plan was to go to the train station and wait there a few hours for a train back to her school. She felt her phone buzzing in her handbag, but right now she wasn't in mood for any phone calls, the loneliness was perfect. She didn't even notice she was crying until she felt the freezing tears on her face, she quickly wiped them away, the streets were almost empty but she still wasn't going to let anyone see her break down like this.

At some point of her journey she unconsciously picked up her pace, it was an old habit of hers since the quickest route to the train station lead through not very pleasant neighbourhoods. Her worst nightmare's come true when she realised someone was following her, she tried to calm herself down, convincing herself it was just some random late night pedestrian like herself, but no matter how she changed her direction he was always behind her. Finally, she thought she could lose him in an alley even she hardly noticed. But much to her horror, she didn't reach a street on the other side, when she was about halfway in the alley she reached quite a tall fence, trimmed by a barbed wire on top, damming the way. Turning around towards the exit she realised she was in trouble, the stalker has already entered the alley and trapped her.

Violet desperately looked around for possible exits, but still managed to notice how quickly was the man and the distinct stench of alcohol approaching. Judging by the smell he was drunk, that made the whole situation even worse, alcohol changes one's perception of reality, meaning if the man was about to do something illegal, he wouldn't even register it.

″ Don't be scared little bird ,″ his laughter scarred the hell out of Violet as there was something cruel hidden deep inside, ″ I won't hurt you, much.″ Violet's eyes widened in terror and her body started shaking uncontrollably, up till now she's hoped he would just take her valuables and leave her alone.

Now, she didn't even want to image what he had in store for her. She desperately turned back to the fence and despite its height and the barbed wire she managed to get to the other side relatively unharmed. Much to her dismay she found herself in an atrium surrounded by two buildings, she ran to the entrance door to one of the buildings, she found out it was locked. Looking back into the alley she realised she was running out of time, her own suitcase served the man as a step to help him climb over the fence. Despite the darkness she managed to notice a staircase on the other side of the atrium, wasting no time she ran, only to reach another dead end on the top, she ended up on the flat roof of the building with no way of escaping without falling several floors. The man had followed her again so going back the way she came wasn't an option. She backed away just to the edge of the roof. Few steps next to her was an TV antenna, observing it quickly, Violet noticed that the part where the short horizontal pole met the vertical one was rusted, meaning she would maybe be able to brake it and earn herself a weapon. Just second before the man came to face her, the antenna broke and Violet acquired a nice sharp metal rod. The man slowly began to approach her with a grin of a maniac who's just captured a prey. She used the few valuable seconds she had to come with a strategy, despite the gravity of the situation she was able to keep more or less cool. Her instincts told her to go for his neck, but he didn't do anything yet, so if he died, it would be murder not self-defence. The time was out, he was already reaching out his hand to catch her. She didn't wait for this to happen and with all her force stabbed his arm with the rod. He cried out in pain and she used the gained time to make a run for the stairs. Unfortunately, the attack hasn't gained her as much time as she'd hoped for, he pursued her and with his good hand caught her and forced her to face him.

In that moment Violet knew it was over, she wasn't going to escape his grasp. In a split of a second he let go of her arm and brutally slapped her face, sending her to the ground and scattering the contents of her handbag.

″ You're going to pay for what you did!″ he spat and kicked her in the abdomen. She cried out in pain but still managed to raise her head and send him a piercing stare. Her phone which was now lying directly ahead of her with a broken screen suddenly started buzzing again. Thanks to her position she was able to read it was her brother who was calling. Casting aside their argument she quickly reach for the phone and press the green button, before the attacker could neutralize the phone.

″ Adam I'm in trouble, roof, yellow building, atrium way to the railway…″ Even though she shouted the information quickly she wasn't quick enough, again as another kick ended her sentence.

″Violet!″ a worried scream came from the speaker.

The attacker picked up the phone, but didn't end the phone call, ″Violet, what a nice name. But you know, the clues you gave your boyfriend are quite lame, there's a whole block of yellow houses with atrium.″

She ignored his mockery and wiped away the blood obscuring her vision, apparently when he fell to the ground she hit her head more than she's suspected.

* * *

Adam's heartbeat increased rapidly, his sister was in trouble, she was with some man who was apparently hurting her and all the clues he was left with was that they were on the rooftop of a yellow house with an atrium on a way to the railway station. The phone call was still active, but he was afraid that if she spoke to him it would bring her more pain. He knew the general area she was talking about, but too large and searching every roof would take time Violet didn't have. He considered calling the police, but that would mean end the call with Violet and considering the previous fight she could think he abandoned her, on the other hand if he told her he was calling the police her captor would hear it too and could speed up his plans, whatever they were.

The general hum and Violet's pained breathing ceased as the animal spoke ″Hey, Violet's boyfriend you still there? You should see how pathetic she is, lying here on the ground.″

″Leave her alone! ″ He snarled into the phone. The answer was only a laughter of a maniac.

He arrived to the described area, but being too close to the buildings made it impossible to see the rooftops.

″Come on, think Adam, you don't have the time to climb every fricking yellow building! ″ He tore a handful of hair from his head, trying to think of most efficient way to find Violet.

In the moment of sheer desperation, he lowered his head and almost started crying when it hit him: there was a thick layer of snow on the ground but it wasn't snowing anymore and even though he wasn't able to determine which one of the few footsteps were Violet's, he knew one thing, she had a suitcase, a suitcase with wheels that should leave distinctive enough trail for him to follow. The only thing that remained was to pick up the trail and let him lead it directly to his little sister.

* * *

When the psychopath's laughter died out he turned of the microphone ″Did you hear that, your boyfriend thinks I should leave you alone, what do you think? ″

Violet, lying on the ground, still in pain after those kicks managed only to growl aggressively, sadly for him it wasn't a satisfying answer. He grabbed her hair, covered her mouth and pulled her up, ″ I asked you a question! ″ Instead of an answer she spat in his face, causing him to let go of her hair and kicking her again.

Before he could continue with the torment, his attention turned to the phone, he laughed and turned the phone so she could see the screen.

″It would seem your dear Adam has lost his interest. ″

The screen showed three words that crushed Violet's hope 'Phone call ended'.

″No,″ she couldn't believe it, no in fact, she could after today it was possible whatever she said, it clearly hurt him, now she was getting hurt and he probably saw this as a chance for payback. It finally hit her, she was alone, no one was coming to save her. She couldn't keep it in anymore, her mind stopped working and she started crying.

″ Oh look at this, just a seconds ago you were so courageous and look at you now, so pathetic. You must really love him very much. At least no one will interrupt us now, my little toy and don't worry you won't suffer from his betrayal long, it'll be over soon."

Clearly he took her brother as a threat before, but now he felt the urge to speed things up, he wanted his prey to think he abandoned her and it worked, but he could've as well quit the call to call the police. Violet used the few seconds when he was lost in his thoughts to pull herself up, if Adam wasn't coming she had to do something herself . When he noticed she stood up he immediately shot a glance to the stairs.

″Good of you to stand up.″

Violet felt disgusted and made a few steps back towards the edge in a desperate try to build up the distance between them, ″I'm not your toy, you psycho! ″

She turned her head, behind her was a gap, that could be around five meters wide, on the other side was another building with stairs leading into the street, if she could make a jump she would be safe, but the if was too big, she couldn't jump five meters when she was ok let alone now, with her abdomen hurting and her lower ribs possibly broken. On the other hand, the danger she was facing pumped Adrenalin into her veins.

″I don't think you have a choice dear.″

When he said that she felt it was almost obligatory to make the jump, just to show him he was wrong. And now thinking about it, falling to death was probably a better than remain at his mercy.

″ There's always a choice,″ she whispered sadly turned around and before he could grab her and go through with his twisted plan she made the possibly last steps.

* * *

To say Adam was frightened when the phone call ended would be an understatement. He thought the worst until it occurred to him that it was his fault. As he didn't live in this country constantly, when he came here he used only pre-paid phone card and it just ran out of credit. He had to hurry, he couldn't let Violet think he abandoned her.

Adam knew he reached the right building when he the trail lead him to the suitcase in an alleyway. He quickly climbed over the fence, tearing his coat in the process, not that it mattered to him right now. When he was about half way up the stairs a loud cream tore through the air, causing him to speed up even more. He couldn't let something bad happen to her, not when he was so close.

When reached the top a scene he would never forget unfolded in front of him. A middle aged balding man laughing like a psychopath, contents of Violet's handbag on the ground, crimson blood staining the white snow, but no sight of Violet. Before the man could react to what was happening Adam sent him to the ground with one powerful punch. And then he saw it, Violet hanging on the ledge on the other side of the gap.

* * *

She didn't make it, she didn't make the jump, but at least she didn't fall, not yet. She managed to grab onto the edge of the other roof and now was barely hanging on it. She knew that this status quo was only temporary, even if her arms were strong, which they weren't, it had rained in the morning and now the temperature was below zero, the ice was slippery, so sooner rather than greater gravity would win this impossible fight.

Her heart stopped when she heard steps, the metallic echoes of thumps on the stairs and crunching of snow when the person got on top. A surprised yelp of her captor and a bang of a body falling on the ground. She didn't dare to turn her head, she had to channel all her focus to her arms.

″Violet! Hang on.″ a partially surprised and desperate voice of her older brother shouted. Frankly she was never more glad to hear his voice. Not that it mattered, he wouldn't be able to reach her and even if he were, she was out of time.

* * *

Adam's mind worked faster than ever before, his sister's time was running out and he didn't know how to save her.

When Violet realised she reached her limit she turned her head and with a sad look on her face, her lips formed the word 'sorry' hoping her brother would catch it. Then, involuntarily her hand let go, sending her down in a free fall.

Adam felt as if time slowed down, his sister apologised, his mind was blank, what was she apologising for? Her hand stopped gripping the ledge. He leaped forward as if he could clear the distance between him and the edge in one step. He desperately extended his arm, but caught nothing. The only thing left do was to scream.

″Violet!″

His mind separated itself from his failure to save his sister from being hurt severely. His brain was only offering him maths, his mind was analysing the situation as if it was an exercise in a physics text book: an object is falling from 20 meters, with no initial velocity, it hits the ground after two second of free fall, calculate the maximal velocity. Unfortunately, this was no experiment, no it wasn't a random object falling it was his little sister. He knew the odds, surviving a fall like this unscathed would be a miracle, severe spinal injuries or even death were more likely. He heard a sickening thump of his sister hitting the ground just as streams of tears emerged from his eyes.

He remembered vividly the day she was born, he was nine, it was Thursday and he was very surprised when his father picked him up from school before it even ended, claiming that he had a sister. He was unimpressed, he imagined that the baby would only mean his mom and dad would have less time for him and the baby would cry and stink. But when he saw her, when his mother laid the little bundle wrapped in a purple blanket into his arms, when she held onto his finger with her tiny hands and wouldn't let go, he absolutely and unconditionally fell in love with her and swore to protect her no matter what. From that day on he tried to be the best brother he could. He still remembered coming to help when she got into the petty children arguments, he still remembered all those time he had played with her, even when he was too old to play.. Then when he was around her age, 17, he ruined everything, he fell in love.

He was useless, Violet wasn't the dangerous one, he was. The women he cared for, loved, the women he swore to protect were dead, first Laura and now his baby sister.

* * *

The moment her hands lost their desperate fight with gravity Violet closed her eyes and ventured to the past, if this was it, if this was how her life would end, she didn't want to see the greyish sky, or dirty alleyway. She wanted to be with her family at least in her mind. She loved her brother and she owed him an apology. It all made sense now, why he lashed out when she mocked his relationship with Laura, after a quick googling on the way to this damned place, she found out she died in a car crash and they never told her. She was eight when it happened, they probably wanted her to think that the smiling blonde lady who always brought her marshmallow Smurfs was still out there, somewhere and that was probably why her brother never like marshmallows again.

She was cursed, she was dangerous, she hurt people she cared about and not just psychically.

Maybe she wouldn't die, maybe her spine would crack and she would be forever trapped in her body or in a wheelchair. Maybe she deserved it, but then again her dying or being irreparably injured would hurt her family once again.

Her brother's scream tore through the night as she stopped feeling everything.

* * *

Adam knew he was a coward, he didn't dare to go closer to the edge and look down, let alone go down the stairs, directly to the scene. He knew she could still be alive, but he felt numb and he knew the sight of her mangled body would be forever burned into his retinas. So he just stood there on the top of that house, blankly staring into the sky. A phone rang in his pocket, it was his mother calling. He was a coward, he desperately wanted to press the red circle, but she deserved to know, she deserved to know he broke his promise, again.

He brought the phone to his ear but stayed silent.

″Adam? Adam? Are you there?″ it was obvious from her voice she was worried.

″Yes, I'm here,″ he replied in a monotonous robot-like voice.

The mother was scared to pose her next question, she'd heard this kind of voice once before and the occasion was horrible. ″Where are you? Did you find Violet? Is she okay?″

″No, she's not okay, ″ he whispered, collapsed to his knees and started crying again. Before he could hear his mother's pained yelp he ended the phone call. He called the ambulance, successfully resisted the urge to snap the psychopath's neck and then just left, stealing only a furtive last look on his sister.

He had all he needed with him, his phone and his credit card. He got a taxi to the airport and still on that day flew away. After all, even if Violet was alive, she was better off without him. And his life went on, even his parents had understood in time that he wasn't going to pick their phones.

* * *

 **AN: I hope I managed to eliminate most of the faults in spelling and grammar but sadly I'm still not as skilled in English as I'd want to be. So if any one of you is bored and has nothing to do, I would really feel much safer with a beta-reader.**

 **Aleri**


	2. The new realm

Violet felt a wave of relief wash over her, she regained consciousness, meaning she survived. But there was still something odd about this situation. For example, that was definitely ground she was lying on, dry, warm ground with no snow. Truth to be told her head hurt far too much for her to be able to come up with a plausible explanation. There were two things to be sure about: the fall definitely happened and it definitely left marks since her whole body hurt like hell. In the end it was no surprise when the darkness came for her again, she let it take her.

The next time she woke up the pain was gone. She was definitely in a hospital, despite having the oxygen mask stuck to her face she was still able to smell the disinfectant typical for medical facilities. Even though Violet wasn't exactly familiar with the hospital in her home town, she was adamant this wasn't the place. All there was to be done was waiting for someone to come, since stupid alert button was nowhere to be seem. The wait turned out to be so exhaustingly boring that she fell asleep again in the process.

It was a small tugging on her right arm that ended her sleep this time. When she groggily looked up there was a nurse changing her IV. This was the chance to finally find out where did she end up. Her throat was dry and her voice raspy but she still managed to asked the fundamental question, ″ Where am I? ″

The nurse jumped a little when she heard a voice but still turned to her with a kind smile and a kind voice, ″ You're in a hospital, in Village Hidden in the Leaves. ″

Violet's mind was apparently taking a break. The name rang a bell but she couldn't quite categorize it. Maybe it was a village near her home town. But since when there were hospitals in villages? That didn't make any sense. Then suddenly, it hit her, Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konohagakure no Sato, Naruto. The level of creepiness of the whole situation just rose. The young girl tried to remain calm but the heart rate sensor showed otherwise, she was freaking out. The nurse shot her a worried look, ″ Don't worry, you'll be okay, there's really nothing seriously wrong with you. You're just beaten up, with scratches and bruises. And you have the mask only because you were unconscious for three days. ″ Of course the nurse thought she was startled by being in a hospital. She took the mask of her face, scribbled something into the chart hanging on the bed and left the room.

Violet looked around once more and tried to wrap her head around this situation. For a moment she really started to consider that all those fanfictions about someone dying and being reborn in another world could indeed happen. She dismissed the idea immediately, she wasn't turned into a baby and no creepy voices announced that her she was getting a second chance. Reaching for a strand of her hair, Violet checked the length and her hair colour, just to be sure she even traced her face with her hands, just to be sure this was still herself and not someone else, possibly canon character. Exhaling in relief and concluded this was probably just a result of unconsciousness or worse of a coma, meaning this was just a dream, or a medically induced hallucination. That was okay, for now, she would wake up, possibly broken into pieces but in a normal hospital, preferably with her family there so she could apologize. Unfortunately, how to end the dream, while actually dreaming it was beyond her, she remembered reading once that if you were in a dream and realized it was a dream you gain a full control over it. For her it either didn't work or she didn't have the skills to do it.

After a few hours of being lost inside her mind, well this was technically already inside her mind, but during that time it meant being one level deeper, the goal was clear try to come up with a way to deal with this situation. Basically, two options came two Violet's mind, one was resenting this place and just wait for the dream to end, if it ever happened, the second choice was to use her time here and let this big construct of her mind be entertaining, after all how many times in life did one get a chance to visit the world of one's favourite manga.

When they brought her lunch Violet had to appreciate the creativity, it was a completely unknown meal and it tasted very well. Despite not being tired, soon after lunch she drifted off into the land of secondary dreams, only to be interrupted by a visitor.

As soon as he entered Violet knew she's seen him somewhere before, same as earlier that day, her mind offered nothing. Focusing on his distinctly blond spiky hair, the name her mind offered was Naruto but somehow it didn't exactly fit him.

Realizing who he was, she chuckled internally, of course her vivid imagination had to throw her into period scarcely mentioned in the manga, so it could create everything anew.

″ I'm Minato Namikaze, my team found you after you crashed into one of the training grounds and as we weren't able to identify you, I was asked to question you. ″

So here it came, the questioning, Violet knew it would be wise to play it smart, deciding what information could be given and which not, just as if it was real.

″I'm Violet Ford, ″ The patient introduced herself and he gave her an odd look.

″Okay… It's Charlotte Violet Ford, but I hate that name, ″ she made sure to emphasise the word hate, just so he could see how much she hated her first name.

Even after using her full name Minato's expression hasn't changed, the odd thing wasn't not stating her full name before, it was the name itself, it was exotic for this place, after all they used Japanese names and ″ Violet Ford ″ certainly didn't sound Japanese.

He skipped to the second question when he realised he wasn't going get an explanation for the name, ″ Do you remember what happened to you? ″

Violet closed her eyes and focused on the events that led to this mess, ″ What happened is that…″ it took a while to find the right words, ″ I screwed up… I had a fight in my family, I wasn't thinking straight and ran out into the night. I was followed, the man cornered and attacked me. I don't know what he had in store for me, but it sure wasn't anything nice…″

She stopped, just now it was coming back to her, the line has been crossed and her stupidity has hurt her and almost certainly her family.

″ How did you escape? ″

A humourless chuckle escaped her mouth, ″ I gambled and it didn't work out, I jumped and I fell, 20 meters. ″

Her story wasn't what Minato had expected. Yes, according to the medical staff her injuries were corresponding with injuries from a fall and so was the place where they had found her. But there was no place this teenager could fall from and even if there was the barrier should've registered a breach, they've already checked that whoever this girl was, she certainly wasn't local.

The creaking of the door disturbed the silence in the room, as nurse entered with the medication.

″ I'm sorry sir, but I must ask you to leave, she's only just woken up and needs to rest, ″ the nurse's voice was kind, yet the subtext was stern and it didn't go unnoticed.

″ Right, I'll let you rest then. ″

* * *

″ Wasn't he too hard on you? These ninjas are usually inpatient people, ″ it seemed the nurse was concerted about how Violet handled the small interrogation.

″ It was alright, I guess, no need to worry, ″ the nurse didn't seem to be convinced, so Violet added a fake reassuring smile, to dismiss the woman's doubts. Unfortunately, in reality the future worried her. Her words that none of this was real kept replaying in her head like a broken reconrd but her mind was successful in forgetting it. They would question her again and they'll want to know everything unfortunately some things were either unbelievable or couldn't be told at all, plus even if she refused to tell, they had methods to get inside her head.

Suddenly Violet wished this whole stay in the fictional world was over. It was one thing wishing to escape into the world of fantasy, become badass and hold your destiny in your own hands however here and now, the situation was completely out of Violet's hands and the real trouble hasn't even started.

When the nurse left the silly smile could disappear, giving in to the confusion.

* * *

Minato felt there was something off about ″ Charlotte Violet Ford ″ despite the briefness of their encounter. Somehow the girl didn't fit hear and it was not caused just by her name. His first assumption was that this seemingly confused and innocent teenager was just another spy, the village was at war after all and their enemies were more and more desperate to smuggle in their agents. Then again if she was a spy she was rather dumb one, making such a theatrical entrance and choosing a name suspicious on its own, or they've just encountered an exceptionally crafty spy and her end game hasn't been revealed yet. Either way, Violet Ford wasn't technically his problem anymore, the torture and interrogation department has taken over the case and from what he had heard they were going to move her from the hospital soon. But he still couldn't banish the slight curiosity on who she really was and where did she come from.

* * *

By the end of the day Violet was a bit bored by her stay in the hospital, she was feeling quite well and with thinking aside there was absolutely nothing to do. She thought about requesting an early discharge but that posed at least two obvious problems, she was homeless, with no money and as it seemed with no proper clothes. And second it was unlikely they would let her- a stranger roam over the village without surveillance.

Just before the end of the shift, the nurse who came to Violet's room earlier that day, came again. It was almost sad that of all the medical staff that came into this room, only this one really spoke to her, the rest had just asked the necessary questions, not uttering a word more and eying her with suspicion all the time. Yes, judging by Minato who wasn't Hokage yet, she deduced that outside the village there was the third great shinobi war raging, so the people were probably expecting her to be a hostile but as long as they were just giving her just the looks, Violet could get over it.

″ I just wanted to check up on you before I go home, ″ the nurse explained her presence with a soft voice. Violet couldn't help it but to respond with a comparably soft smile.

″ You shouldn't worry you know, the ninjas here can be quite scary but I'm sure they're going to get you back to your family, ″

″ _They're going to get you back to your family, ″_ The words rang in Violet's head over and over again. No, the nurse was wrong, they were just products of her over-imaginative brain, the only one who could get her back was… Well that depended on why exactly was she dreaming but still it was most likely her th who should solve this.

″ How do I know I'm dreaming when I'm in a dream? ″ the question was more like a rhetorical one said aloud but it seemed to catch the nurse's attention anyway.

″ You think you're dreaming? ″

Violet shook her head and exhaled loudly, ″ I don't mean to be rude but that doesn't matter, ″

The nurse seemed to be intrigued even more, she took a chair standing by the window and moved it closer to the bed. Looking into Violet's ebony eyes she seemed to have found her answer.

″ You know… ″ she patted Violet's hand, ″ I didn't mean to listen when you spoke to Namikaze-san. From what I understood, it seems you went through quite traumatizing situation…″ the girl in the bed didn't manage to supress a scoff, ″ and it may happen, that after events like this, a person can start to think reality is just a dream, it's a sort of coping mechanism. ″

Violet stared at her for quite a while, ″ You don't understand a thing, it's far more complex than this, ″

″ Then tell me, it helps to talk about your problems, ″

Violet considered the woman's presence as a nice one but as time passed and she pried, it became a bit annoying and at the request to explain her situation she couldn't help it but laugh bitterly, ″ Oh yeah, I'm eager to get a one-way ticket to the psychiatry wing. Why don't we talk about you instead? Do you talk like this to every patient, is this what you're paid for? ″

The older woman was clearly taken aback by the patient's reaction. She finally seemed to realize that the girl wasn't exaggerating when she called her situation complex. From what she understood the teenager thought this was a dream and although it could be a symptom of PTS,D something seemed to be off about her. The older woman wanted to help the poor child but she already talked enough and pitying her and getting attached wasn't good either, since in the morning they move to interrogate her, so it was possible she was never going to see her again.

″ I wish you good luck with solving your problems, ″ despite Violet's earlier response, the woman kept her soft voice as she left the room.

Violet wanted to punch herself, she's just driven off her only possible ally.

She carefully got out of the bed, hoping no nurse would come, considering no clearance to get out of the bed on her own wasn't given to her. Her back ached as she straightened her spine after four days of lying in bed and the legs felt a little bit rubbery but it was a great feeling to move freely. For a while Violet just stood on the cold ground, leaning slightly onto the bed frame, to help her legs accommodate to standing again. With slow and steady steps, she got to a door to a bathroom. It was a relief, finding out there was no one there, the bathroom was shared for two neighbouring rooms and right now Violet wasn't in mood for meeting anyone else. She leaned onto the sides of the washbasin and in the mirror observed the sorry state she was in. Her chestnut hair, once reaching to her shoulders were now a tangled mess on top of her head and were disgustingly greasy, considering she was used to washing her hair every day. Her face was a bit pale, not scarily but still not her usual colour and there were splashes of disinfectant on her face, probably when they were cleaning the scratches on her arm, they weren't very careful and they definitely didn't save the disinfectant.

Violet successfully resisted getting immediately into the shower, she still had several plasters on her body and apparently it wasn't time to remove them yet. On the other hand, she really stank and not caring about the hygiene wasn't healthy either. She headed back to bed and ask someone when they bring her dinner.

Soon the door opened and a nurse put a tray with dinner on the table.

″ Excuse me, could I have a shower? ″

The woman looked and probably upon seeing her she has shown some mercy″ If you insist, you could but only a short one, so we don't have to re-bandage your wounds, ″

Violet quickly inhaled the dinner before disappearing in the bathroom to have the much needed shower. For the first time she saw the full extent of the scratches and bruises, well just the bruises the scratches were covered but judging by the amount of plasters on the back of her arms and legs and a few on her back, her landing wasn't nice, wherever she landed, in the alley, or in Konoha.

When the steam subsided and the reflection in the mirror cleared, she could with clear conscience say she looked much better now. The hospital shampoo wasn't her collection of hair products with insane price tags but it did its job.

″ You got yourself into quite a mess this time, Charlotte. ″ Violet jumped back from the mirror and looked around, to find the source of the voice. When she found none she slowly, with dread rapidly rising, turned towards the mirror. The image in the mirror didn't match the original, neither in pose, nor in the facial expression. This was the final straw, final proof that Violet has lost it.

″ The mirror's talking ,″ she laughed sarcastically.

″Are you stupid? Mirrors don't talk, ″ the reflection spoke again.

Violet started laughing, ″ Of course, you're the rebellious reflection! ″

The Violet in the mirror smirked, clearly enjoying her counterpart's moment of insanity, ″ I'm no reflection, I'm merely a manifestation of one part of your mind. Once just the instincts, whispers, now a reflection in a mirror…″

Violet couldn't stop laughing, talking reflection was too much even for her. Everything was clear now, she simply went insane, ″ So you're supposed to be the embodiment of my instincts? Sorry to inform you instincts can't just come to life like this,″

The reflection almost curiously tilted her head and smirked, ″ If you can travel through dimensions, how do you now I'm not real? ″

Violet angrily slammed her hands into the mirror, ″ I have not travelled through dimensions! This is a dream and you're just a construct of my imagination! ″ She's said that more loudly than she's originally wanted, so she looked around and waited for a moment, just to be sure no one would come.

″ What if you had and I'm the part of your mind that couldn't put up with your ignorance anymore? I mean, when you're thinking about all this as a dream, don't tell me it doesn't feel odd .″

The girl in front of the mirror clutched her head in her hand in desperation, she had a feeling that her head would explode from the clash of claims of the reflection and her own conviction, ″If you're so clever than how do we determine who's right?″

″ Simple, you could kill yourself, if it's a dream, you'll wake up but don't do that because you would be too dead for me to tell you ″Told you so″ . For now, I would advise you to go with the flow, stay vigilant and more importantly alive. ″

And as suddenly as the reflection came to life, it now ceased to move. Violet kept staring into the mirror, until she was disturbed by knocking. Apparently one of her neighbours wanted to use the bathroom as well.

After climbing back into her bed, Violet wanted to sleep desperately, unfortunately this was one of the moments when her mind was working on one hundred percent despite the tiredness. Her eyes were involuntarily still wide open and she couldn't get the doppelganger's words from her head. It was actually quite scary; she was considering that rebellious mirror reflection's may be true. The loneliness hit her again, right now she was in desperate need of a confident, she needed someone to tell her the truth, to tell her what to do.

* * *

It was only thanks to the medication given to her that she's fallen asleep that night. Much to her dismay, when she woke up, she was no longer in the sunlit hospital room with light breeze, no she was laying on a narrow hard bed in a small dark room filled with a musty smell. The first thought of her disturbed mind was that she had actually died and this was hell, banishing that scary thought she realised this was a cell, a prison cell, meaning a whole new set of trouble was awaiting her.

Obviously , they wanted to finish the interrogation Minato'd started. They were going to ask question and even if she answered truthfully they weren't going to believe. And that was just the information that could actually be told. Ever since she started playing with the thought this was real, one particular problem kept coming up, what to do with her knowledge of the storyline, or the future? Violet knew these were dangerous waters, she knew who was going to die also preventing some deaths would automatically prevent other problems. But who was she to play God and meddle with destiny? And to determine if fixing something wouldn't actually bring even bigger disasters? On the other hand, letting people die, despite having a chance to intervene, that was as bad as if she'd killed them herself. There wasn't a correct answer and it was obvious why, there wasn't supposed to be a knowledge like this to start with.

The lock suddenly rattled and the door open, ″ please come with me. ″ the man tried to sound polite but his voice wasn't leaving any space for refusal. Violet got up and almost involuntarily followed him. She ended up in a room with a table, two chairs and a mirror, which was most certainly see-through from the other side, this room was one big cliché. She didn't get much time to accommodate and a different man was already seating himself across the table.

He looked at her searchingly and it was obvious he could see right through her calm mask, ″ There's no need to be afraid, I just have a few questions, it'll help us to figure out who you are, ″ a threat was subtly mask in his statement, it was clear, if she proved to be dangerous they knew how to deal with her.

She nodded emotionlessly, this nightmare was getting worse and worse, she did nothing wrong, yet she's was being interrogated like a criminal.

″Please state your full name, ″ that was an obvious question and one of the few she could actually answer without thinking and calculation.

″ Charlotte Violet Ford,″ she cringed at the sound of her first name, she couldn't even describe how she's hated it.

The man quickly scribbled something on the paper in front of him, ″ How old are you? ″

Another easy one, ″ I'm 17. ″

He wrote something again, ″ Do you know where you are? ″

Now it was getting harder, what exactly did he wanted to hear? ″ In Village Hidden in the Leaves? The nurse told me, ″ she felt an urge to clarify she didn't know at first and that it was the nice woman who told her.

″ Where are you from? ″ the man asked and a light of curiosity appeared in his eyes.

The trouble for Violet's just began, she had only a limited amount of time, to decide something that could change the direction of the dream (or her life?) .Her options were limited, she could pretend she didn't remember, she'd hit her head after all, so having an amnesia wasn't impossible, she tell him the truth and pretend it wasn't odd, or she could go, ″ Why the hell should I tell you, you're not real anyways.″

She decided neither, ″ Well, I'm certainly not from around here, because I have no idea where ″ Village Hidden in Leaves ″ is . ″

The interrogator narrowed his eyes, he was clearly calculating, trying to find something in the cryptic answer. ″ Are you a ninja? ″ nevertheless he continued with his questions.

″No, I'm certainly not, I've never seen a ninja before in my life, ″ this was another one of the easy-to-answer questions as she didn't have to lie.

He looked confused again, he probably must've been imagining from what kind of end of the world has she come that she's never seen a ninja.

″ What is the last thing you remember before you got to Konoha? ″

″ I've already told your colleague, the blond one, ″ she didn't know how good she was supposed to be in remembering everybody's names so she didn't name Minato, just to be sure.

″I'm aware of that but I would like to repeat it for me, ″

Violet closed her eyes, she had no desire to replay the horrible memories but this man wanted to hear it again, even though she clearly remembered Minato writing it down. ″ No, I don't want to remember it. Don't you see I have no intention to be here, I just want to go back! ″

It could be seen on his face that he had waited for some emotional outbreak, and it seemed logical, calm people could lie but emotions usually destroyed all attempted deception. ″ Where exactly is back? ″

One question and a set of unwanted memories was all it took to bring Violet Ford on the verge of tears. Suddenly she forgot to keep up her restraints and let her mouth talk without thinking first. ″You wouldn't believe even if I told you, ″ she spat bitterly.

The man's eyes sparked with victory, she was getting exactly where he wanted to have her. ″Try me. ″

She looked carefully at him, theoretically telling them she was from another dimension was unbelievable but possibly harmless as long as she didn't go talking about things involving this world. ″ Well, I think this is a dream. ″

The eyes of the interrogator widened, out of all possible truths, half-truths and lies she could say, she chose to say this. He was starting to have a feeling that she was something completely new and with the village being at war new wasn't exactly a good sign but still, he wanted to hear more. ″ How so?″

″ Well, the first one, I have absolutely no idea where I am, I'm adamant that something called Village Hidden in Leaves doesn't exist. Then, as you surely already know, I fell from quite a height and there's no way I got out with just scratches, let alone in a grass, when I fell into snow. And why in the world is everyone talking about ninjas, I mean there certainly isn't that many ninjas, I mean I met one, the nurse spoke about them and now you're asking me if I'm one, that's weird. ″

For her lengthy explanation she received only an odd look from the man. He understood some of her logic but didn't understand how she couldn't know Konoha and ninjas? Of course she could still be lying and she probably was but what kind of crazy lie was that. ″ I don't know Ford-san, I feel quite real. ″

Anger was starting to slowly creep into Violet's thoughts, hasn't the nurse said they would help her? She was the one who needed answers, she had no intention of staying so there was no point in trying to learn everything about her.

″If so then explain how did I get here! Either this is not real or I travelled into different dimension which is even more insane!

″ Why are you so adamant that something like that happened? ″ The man seemed to be genuinely interested in her reasoning.

Violet's patience was really starting to run low, she thought she'd already presented him the reasons supporting her claims, nevertheless he asked again, she realised that he was maybe waiting for her to make a mistake, say something different than she said before.

″I thought I already explained myself. This place is not my home; it looks nothing like my home. There are no ninjas back there and this place doesn't exist. Also it was freezing and there was a lot of snow, here I woke up with an open window and according to the medical staff I was out for three days, there's no way late autumn changed into late spring in three days. And the last thing, back home, people tend to help people in distress, not lock them up and treat them like hostiles. ″

″I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you but you must understand we are currently at war and not a small one, so situations like this can't be taken lightly, ″ he made no comment on the matter of travelling through dimensions but he wrote something down again.

It was obvious he was still skeptic towards her theories which made Violet eager to present more proofs, luckily he just made gave her an information she could use.

″ You're talking about some big war, strangely there wasn't a big war in my world for seventy years. ″

″ I think that was quite enough for today. ″ It seemed the interrogator had, for now, gathered enough information to keep him busy for a while. He excused himself and left the room.

* * *

With a loud thud a folder with a few papers inside landed on the table. The man who's just spoken with Violet didn't go far, he went to the room on the other side of the mirror, to discuss his impressions with his colleagues who have been watching the whole time.

″ So what do you think? ″ he didn't need to get their attention since throwing the folder has already done the job.

″ I think this one's going to be fun, this one has a vivid fantasy. ″ One the men said, he was clearly amused by their prisoner's story and didn't consider for even a second that she could be telling the truth.

″ I'm trying not to think anything; her story seems far too complex to make conclusion after just one session. We should certainly look inside her mind to determine if she's lying. ″ The other one seemed a little more open to the possibility she was telling the truth.

None of them was really sure what to think about her supposed travel from a different dimension, they knew of existence of ninja techniques playing with space and time. However, she claimed ninja to be a foreign concept to her, which left the question, was crossing to another dimension possible without ninjutsu?

* * *

It was clearly a false assumption to think she would be escorted back to the cell when the interrogation ended. She turned towards the mirror and even though the only thing she could see was her this time unmoving reflection she was certain there were still people watching and assessing her on the other side.

Violet was sure they didn't believe her, how could they if she didn't believe it either. She didn't know what to believe anymore.

 **Author's note The mentions of types of stories were in no way meant to be disrespectful. I just decided Violet is a fanfiction reader too and she likes these kind of stories (One of the few things we have in common)**


	3. Down the memory lane

Scared, after two days of just sitting in a dark cell Violet Ford could honestly admit she was more scared than ever before in her life, the fateful night included. At first, she didn't realise the gravity of the situation but as she sat there, in the darkness it all started coming back to her. Maybe it was an intimidation technique, maybe they wanted to break her by leaving her alone in such a depressing place or maybe they were deciding whether to end her life or not. She was doomed even if they let her live, almost everything she knew about life was useless here, they were different people, with different ways of life and Violet doubted she would be able to change her life completely to adapt.

The levels of dread rose rapidly when the door opened. The stay in the cell was killing her but at the same time she was still alive, now this state was about to change. She winked her eyes multiple times, through the open door light was getting into the cell and her eyes needed time to adapt after staring into darkness for two days.

″Charlotte Ford, come with me, ″ the person outside the door ordered.

Violet took hearing her first name as a bad sign but then again she always did. Silently she followed the man through the corridors. This time, she was led to quite a small room, with only one chair and bare walls, this time no one-way mirror. Nothing happened for following few minutes, they sure liked to take their time. Violet was anxiously biting her lip so much that it actually started bleeding a little.

A man with quite long blond hair came. Violet subconsciously realised her probably belonged to the Yamanaka clan. If that was true, they wanted to see her memories and that was bad, very, very bad. The memories of the Naruto manga could make irreparable damage to this world's future. She presumed the Hokage was too smart to abuse her knowledge but there were others who wouldn't hesitate to use it for their own prospects and that put her own life into danger. The knowledge was her burden and it had to stay hers and hers alone. Unfortunately, what means did she have of stopping them.

″ Ford-san, I was requested to read your memories, to support or disprove your testimony. If you don't resist, it won't hurt you. ″

According to the man, it seemed it was possible to resist the jutsu but it would hurt. Violet accepted that it was a price she had to pay and maybe it would be for nothing because she had no idea how to resist and even if she knew how, she doubted she was strong enough.

″No,″ she cried out desperately as the man started approaching her.

He put his hand on her forehead and in that moment a strange sensation overwhelmed her mind. This was it, she closed her eyes shut and redirected all her strength on one thought, she couldn't let him in. She used her desperation, she used all the noble reasons she had to keep this secret to fight the invader. It hurt like hell, a battle took place in her head and it was tearing it apart but it seemed to affect him as well. Their strength, their wills to fulfil the goal were evenly matched, meaning the one who would endure longer would win. Violet felt his strength faltering, despite the unbearable pain she forced herself to one final push. When she felt the intrusion leaving her mind, she thought the pain would end, unfortunately that wasn't the case. She dizzily opened her eyes, her eyes weren't able to focus but she could still see the man was kneeling on the ground and struggling for breath. Even though she felt terribly, she allowed herself to smile a little. Feeling a moisture on her face, she wiped it with her hand, even with her unfocused eyes she could see clearly the red liquid smeared on her hand. Her nose was bleeding and quite a lot apparently since it already started dripping on her clothes. Everything seemed as if it was in slow motion, the door flung open, three man came hurtling in, two ran to support their colleague, the third one headed to secure her. Violet's sight became even more hazy and with one last sway she lost consciousness and crumpled on the floor.

/

Waking up this time was a bit of a decisive moment for Violet, she believed if this was indeed a dream that painful episode would snap her out of the dream and back into reality. She slowly opened her eyes. When she saw nothing but darkness, it was clear nothing has changed, meaning she was doomed.

She felt terribly and the cause wasn't just physical. If they didn't before, now they would certainly mark her as a threat. She resisted them and they must've understood there was a secret held in her head. It was over, she overpowered the man only because he wasn't expecting her to resist like this, next time he surely wouldn't make the same mistake and even if he did, Violet didn't think she could pull off the stunt again.

For a fleeting moment of weakness, she actually considered using her knowledge for her own gain. Telling them the truth suddenly wasn't such a bad idea, she could tell them and allow them to see a glimpse of her memories. She could play god; she could use her knowledge to manipulate the people on a whim. That would be the easy way but irresponsible at the same time.

Somehow the theory of a different dimension was starting to seem more likely even if she didn't want it to. That meant her priority was to find a way to get back and she couldn't just tell them their future and irresponsibly leave.

Other than this sad selfish plan, she was lost and frightened of what the near future held.

Minutes, maybe hours or days passed, it didn't matter. Life, family they prepare you for life, including some of the difficult situations but not this, no one, could prepare her for this. It hit her for the first time, even though in the back of her mind she knew, she was in this on her own, there was no one coming to save her.

The door creaked and footsteps echoed through her empty cell, ″ Get up, ″ a harsh voice, void of any sorts of kindness, ordered.

She moved slowly, almost too slowly for the man's liking. Her head still hurt terribly and when she stood up her head spun, almost making her to fall again.

Violet followed the man quietly through the halls, not daring to tear her gaze away from the ground.

An interrogation room, again. Violet was scared, genuinely frightened and it took a large effort not to tremble. Someone entered the room and Violet just couldn't bring herself to look, she stared blankly into the table, biting her lip slightly so that she wouldn't start crying.

″ You made it quite clear you're hiding something, therefore cannot be trusted and you pose a threat to the village ,″ he summed up her situation briefly.

Violet nodded, ″ I'm not a threat but I… I cannot allow you see my memories. ″ That was all she managed to say, a feeble defence that wasn't credible for them anyway.

″ I assure you we have ways to penetrate your mind even if you resist but the consequences would be more severe, ″ he eyed the blood stains on her t-shirt.

She already knew that, that's why she had a last chance to convince the man she resisted for a good reason,″ Look,″ for the very first time she turned her gaze at him, her eyes full of tears, threatening to fall, ″ I've told you I've come from a different place. I can't really know much about this world but from what I've heard it is much different. My knowledge…my memories, it doesn't belong here. We're destroying our world for our own gain, we have terrible weapons and I don't want to bring dangers and problems of my world here.

The man's face became stoic but in his eyes, it could clearly be seeming he was calculating, ″ You possess exact plans of those weapons in your memory? Because otherwise I can't see how it could be harmful. ″

The bluff seemed to work, it certainly sparked his interest. Of course the technology of Violet's world wasn't the true reason why she couldn't let them inside her head but that didn't mean they should the details about her home. ″ I do not have any plans, ″ she said slowly, ″ but that doesn't matter, an idea that's all it takes to spark someone's imagination. ″

″ I still don't see the reason, your file, therefore report of your memories, is confidential, only small number of people have access to it. ″

Despite still fighting her fear, she allowed a little smile to creep to her face. ″ And you can honestly say none of them is power hungry and would find a way to fabricate those things in my head…″

The man seemed to be seriously considering her last sentence.

He was about to say something when Violet cut him off. ″ Just let me say this, I'm frightened and I truly have no idea what is going on. For all I care, leave me locked up in here, if you want to be sure. But please, I beg you, help me find a way back… I have no intention of staying here.″ Now she really started crying and the man looked like he was quite startles by her sudden confession.

Tears fell on Violet's cheeks but at the same time a spark of hope appeared in Violet's eyes. This time all her words were true and she meant every single one of them.

/

The third Hokage, lost in his thought gazed at the village through the window. The newest puzzle, Charlotte Violet Ford was giving the T&I department a hard time. Reading the file with all the information they were able to gather, he could clearly see why was the case so different from others that it required his attention. The usual procedure was that T&I department prepared a thorough file and a final assessment with recommendation which the Hokage followed in most cases. This way, the amount of precious time he had dedicate to these cases was diminished. This time, a file came with no conclusion. Apparently there were some textbook signs indicating their newest visitor was a spy but at the same time other facts about the girl didn't fit anything they ever encountered before. The girl was apparently claiming she has come from a world very different from this one and she required help, their help to get back. And that was the reason why the results of an unfinished investigation were presented to the Hokage, it was up to him to decide whether Charlotte Ford should be granted help.

As the Hokage read the transcript of the last interrogation over and over, he came to believe that as long as they kept her in the cell, as she herself had suggested, there was no harm to be done and with that approved help for the foreign girl.

/

Things happened but at the same time everything remained the same. Violet was again confined in the darkness of the cell. If things ended up badly now, at least Violet would have a feeling she's done everything there was to do. The last interrogation was her last gamble, last battle and the prisoner girl attacked with honesty, brutal honesty.

The only thing left to believe to was that even if those people were at war, they were still human and they would answer a desperate teenager's cry for help.

″ Come with me. ″ the situation was the same as multiple times before, door opened a man entered and commanded her to leave the cell.

As usually she was lead through the plain, windowless hallways, in the meantime Violet's mind was trying to come up were most likely would this trip end.

″I really don't see why but the Hokage seems to believe your nonsense,″ although it could seem he merely wanted to inform her the voice was enough to let the girl know he completely disagreed with his leader's decision. A wave of relief washed over her, apparently the Hokage believed her, meaning they would probably be willing to help her find a way back home. At the end of the little trip she ended up in a familiar room, alone again.

When someone finally came, Violet was actually surprised since as far as she knew this person wasn't working here. But here he was, seated across the table, the future fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

″Namikaze-san, ″ her tone was enough to let him know she was surprised to see him.

″Ford- san, you look better, ″ that was more like a figure of speech because Violet highly doubted that after being incarcerated here and fainting because of a stress on her head she could look better.

″I wouldn't have guessed that you were working here, ″ she of course knew he wasn't working here but it fell appropriate to say something like that.

He chuckled, ″ Oh, I'm not, I was just asked to come here to talk to you, since you apparently mentioned something that falls into my expertise. ″

Violet suppressed a smirk, she mentioned different dimension and here he was, the Yellow Flash of the Leaf, known for his space-time ninjutsu. That actually made sense but at the same time didn't, if she was sure about one thing, it was that she didn't get here using ninja technique.

Still, she had to pretend she had no idea who he was and what he could do, ″ and your expertise would be?″

″ Space-time ninjutsu, among many other things, ″ he replied.

Violet almost forgot to put up a confused expression, she wasn't supposed to know ninja, so she couldn't know what ninjutsu was. ″ Ninjutsu? Those are the magic tricks? And space-time? Does that mean you can teleport forty years into the past to the other side of the world? ″

Minato seemed to be amused by her view on how the space-time ninjutsu worked, ″ I can tell you that ninjutsu is not a trick and well the space-time one is certainly not as powerful as you picture it. But you can learn about that later. Now, I need you to tell me again how exactly did you get here. I've already read your reasoning and it seems it could be valid. ″

Violet sighed, she wished there was actually something to tell, so he could figure out what happened and reverse it.

″Well, you've already heard about the attack…″ She hoped her remembered because she didn't want to go into that again, ″ and basically my only hope for escape was to jump across the gap to another building. Obviously, I didn't make the jump and was left hanging on the edge of the building, I'm not very strong and the edge was slippery with ice, so I fell. And I woke here, on the ground with only scratches, I mean I should be dead, or badly injured, not scratched. ″

It was obvious her information offered almost no explanation, unfortunately. ″ Do you, in your world have any means of reaching other dimensions? ″

That was a clever question to ask but sadly the answer wouldn't bring much light into the whole thing. ″ As far as I know we do not. But who knows what the scientists might be testing. ″

″All right, there's not much to go on from but I'll see what I can do.″ He was already leaving but it seemed as if he was itching to ask something more. Finally, just as he was reaching the door handle he turned back.

″I'm just interested, if you haven't encountered any ninjutsu before, how were you able to resist a mind reading jutsu? ″

Truth to be told Violet foresaw this kind of question, however didn't expect Minato to be the one asking it. The answer was as much a mystery to the young brunette as to the rest of them. One thing was sure, it couldn't be described by science, or in this world terms by some ninja theory.

″It was a spontaneous desperate action, an act of will, good will perhaps. ″

It seemed as if the teenager wanted to desperately protect this world from the knowledge of her home world. ″ What's so bad about the world you came from? ″

Obviously Violet didn't have an answer, these two worlds, the Naruto one and her world, surely they were different but that didn't necessarily mean one of them was bad. ″ That's quite a broad topic, if you find a way to get me back, I promise to tell you. ″

It was a promise, one that was supposed to be motivational in a way. Minato nodded and in that very moment he wished he would be able to find a way to get the girl home.

/

In a way, Violet felt victorious, they agreed to help her and she believed if someone could find a way to get her home, it would be Minato Namikaze. Thanks to this good news, she stopped trying to wrap her head around this impossible state of things, it didn't matter anymore, going home was all it mattered. Violet let this world go without even leaving it and fully focused on how she was going to change her life when she got back. Apologizing to everyone, especially to her family was the first goal on her list. It was obvious that in the end she was going to be grateful for this life-changing experience, well it would be life-changing even without this Naruto world episode, because the rooftop drama itself had made a huge impact on Violet's priorities.

And one more thing was sure, Violet Ford was never going to see the manga and anime in the same way. That made her a little sad, she didn't get to see this world, or at least Konoha. First, she was in the hospital and then they moved her here, where she would apparently remain till the day she left this world for good.

/

″Is this a dream?″

Violet found herself in an empty space, looking at what seemed as her reflection at first but then she noticed it was actually a person, a perfect copy of herself.

″No, you're sleeping but this is not a dream,″ the clone answered.

Violet's eyes lit in realisation as she pointed at the strange copy,″You're the one from the mirror!″

″Indeed I am. While awake, you succeeded in suppressing me, so you forced me to disturb your sleep like this.″

″What do you want from me?″ Violet snapped, she certainly wasn't okay with an idea of her subconscious being independent .

″Don't be so angry, it's for your own good. I wanted to warn you. I heard you making plans for when you get back home…″

″What about it?″ Violet interrupted the mirror girl.

″Maybe if you let me finish you would know!″ It seemed the second girl was getting riled up as well,″ You shouldn't cling on your plans that much, you have no idea when or even if you're going home.″

Violet didn't understand what was so bad about making plans,″What else should I do?″

The copy smiled,″I'm not telling you to stop making plans, I'm just telling you should keep in mind it might not work out.″

The owner of the body gasped,″You think there isn't a way back?″

The doppelganger face-palmed,″ Do you even listen to me? I just said you shouldn't rule out the option, that's all.″

″Okay, noted, now if you could please get out, so I could sleep.″ Violet hoped this was the last time she saw this rebellious part of her mind, because it simply made her think she went crazy talking to a part of herself.

The fragment of her mind obliged, and let her alone.

/

Number of uneventful days passed. It was hard to tell how many when the only light there was, was an artificial one. But actually one day, they came for her again, mistakenly she though they would lead her to the interrogation room again but much too her surprise, they granted her a different cell, the main improvement was that she was apparently moved a floor higher, since the new cell had a regular window.

When they locked her in there, Violet immediately ran over the room and like an impatient, curious child latched onto the window. As expected, the window didn't offer her the spectacular view of the Hokage mountain and all those well-known buildings but a view of an ordinary street still mesmerized her it was so different from the streets full of busy people she knew, some of those people out there were surely in rush too but still they seemed more relaxed. Somehow seeing the ordinary people on the street convinced for sure that this was real even if it defied all the logic. For a moment, to pass some time she imagined what her life would be like if she was born in this world. She wondered if she would be a shinobi, if her parents would even allow her become one.

/

″ _Mom, where's dad, I thought he was driving me to school,″a young girl demanded with a curious voice._

 _The older woman came from behind the kitchen counter and kneeled just in front of the young girl.″Charlotte…″ the girl cringed, causing the mother to smile softly,″Violet, I thought we told you, your dad had to work early today, so Alice's mother is going to drive you to school today.″_

 _The girl's eyes sparkled, she's always liked changes in a routine and she liked Alice and her mother. After all, Alice was her best friend since they were very little, they have met only because their mothers were friends. At first, Violet didn't like Alice at all, she seemed a bit boring, never wanting to explore or invent new games. But in the end it was the difference between the two girls that made them close, as Alice's shyness and silent intellect was balancing out Violet's loud and expressive comportment._

″ _Here, don't forget your snack,″ the older woman handed Violet a pink box. The twelve-year-old looked at it and sighed._

″ _Mom, we have talked about this, I'm too old for a pink box with unicorns,_ _use_ _the plastic bags.″_

 _The mother smirked,″If that's the case than I think you're too old for all those toys we keep buying you.″_

 _The young girls eyes widened in horror,″ No, no, I'm not that old.″_

 _Their bickering was interrupted by a ring of a doorbell._

″ _They're here, off you go.″ the woman watched as her little girl went to door,″ and have a nice day!″she called just before the door clicked._

 _She stood there a while after Violet left, wondering when exactly her little princess grew up. She loved both her children but she was always closer to Violet, as her son, being a boy naturally wanted to spend more time with his father who supported him in his interests in sports and while from time to time she got to spend time with her son when he was younger, she simply couldn't understand him that well. The biggest blow to their relationship was Adam's girlfriend. She liked the girl, yes that wasn't the problem, the issue was when Adam started skipping school because of her and at one point, they even threatened to expel him for good._

 _As it later became clear, the bigger problems were still awaiting the family, a year later Laura died in a car crash, leaving Adam shattered._

/

″ _Hi aunt Rachel, hi Alice,″ Violet greeted when she climbed into the car._

 _The driver turned to see the girls on the backseats,″Hi Violet, please faster your seatbelt.″_

″ _Hi, Vi,″ said Alice sitting next to her._

 _Violet nodded and with a little effort managed to fasten the belt._

″ _So Violet, how was your weekend?″ The driver asked._

″ _Nothing special I guess, we just visited grandma and grandpa, that's all.″_

 _Violet was thinking if there was anything interesting she could share about her weekend but was cut off by Alice's soft voice ″Well, we went shopping, mom bought some boring hand bag but I, I got a microscope!″_

 _Violet understood what that meant to Alice, truth is she's always admired her hobbies, even though she was a skilled dancer and had a training almost every day, she still managed to keep her passion for sciences. ″That's great! Can I see it sometime?″_

 _Alice laughed, Violet's face when she was excited about something was simply hilarious,″ Sure, what about today?″ she leaned slightly forward so her mother would hear it,″ Mom, can Violet go home with me after school?″_

″ _I'm not sure honey, I would have to call aunt Cynthia to see it it's okay.″ the mother replied without taking her eyes off the road._

″ _Well, actually I can't, I have a piano lesson after school,″ Violet realised._

″ _That's shame, maybe other time?″ Alice was sure they both would have a free afternoon soon, so she could present her new instrument to her best friend._

 _The car stopped,″ we're here girls, have a nice day!″_

/

Violet opened her eyes rapidly as the dream was cut off. For a normal person this would be a realistic and maybe boring dream but Violet had almost bit her hand, trying not to shriek out, since for her this dream, dream of that particular day was a nightmare. Five years had passed since that day but as it seemed she could still remember every single detail. It didn't matter the dream was cut off, it still hurt and scared her, knowing what happened later that day. Only thing that remained a mystery was why now? After so many years, so many dreamless nights, why did those memories, this nightmare resurfaced?

It seemed obvious, when her body was restrained by the cell, her mind was working and since the imprisonment lasted such a long time old and banished memories found their way back.

Violet got up from the bed and went to the window, trying to dispel the thoughts of the past by watching the street again. It didn't help, tears started to threaten to leave her eyes.

A small gap in the door opened and a tray with food was pushed in, followed by a question asked by woman's voice,″ Who's Alice?″

Violet was startled, how could the woman, whoever she was know about Alice?

Seeing Violet's reluctance to answer she added,″ You kept repeating the name.″

″Oh,″ Violet gasped, she must have talked in her dream then,″ She's…was my best friend.″

″What happened?″ asked the person behind the door, clearly curious why Violet changed the tense.

″Because, I ruined her life,″ she whispered.

* * *

 **A/N The most challenging part of this chapter: Exactly how do twelve year-old girls behave?**

 **Reviews are always welcomed :D .**

 **Aleri**


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